Orange City, Iowa– A home was damaged in a fire on Tuesday, December 20, 2016 in Orange City.
According to Orange City Fire Chief Denny Vander Wel, about 3:45 p.m., the Orange City Fire Department was called to the report of a structure fire at 421 Second Street Southwest in central Orange City near the MOC/FV Elementary School. He says the home is a rental owned by George Renken.
The chief says the fire department saw smoke outside the home as they approached the scene. He says as firefighters entered the upstairs, they encountered heavy smoke. He says the fire was found in the ceiling of a bathroom, where a malfunctioning exhaust fan with heat had caused the fire. He says they extinguished the fire in in the ceiling but found insulation on fire in the attic, which was also extinguished.
Vander Wel says the family told him they do not normally use the heat option on the fan, due to a hot smell when it was used, but a family member had turned it on. It was later turned off, but a fire had started unnoticed. He says it must have burned for a while as the tail end of the rafters had burned off.
Vander Wel says no injuries were reported.
The fire department was assisted by the Alton Fire Department, who automatically gets paged for Orange City structure fires; the Le Mars Fire Department, with whom Vander Wel says they provide an aerial truck for each other’s structure fires; and the Sioux Center Fire Department Rapid Intervention Team, who handles firefighter safety during structure fires.
Chief Vander Wel reports that there was moderate damage including smoke in the whole home, and estimated that it would cost $25,000 to fix.
He says they used 200 gallons of water to fight the fire, and crews were on scene until shortly after 6:00 p.m.
Vander Well says personnel from the Orange City Municipal Utilities, the Orange City Police Department, and the Orange City Ambulance assisted at the scene as well.
